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Alcoa To Commence Cash Tender Offer for All Outstanding Shares of Reynolds Metals Company - At A Price of $65 per Share

PITTSBURGH, PA--August 16, 1999--
Alcoa Inc. (NYSE:AA) said today that while it prefers to negotiate a
mutually agreeable merger with Reynolds management it will commence a
cash tender offer this week for all outstanding shares of Reynolds
Metals Company (NYSE:RLM) at a price of $65 per share. Alcoa said that
it will file definitive tender offer materials with the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission and will mail the materials to Reynolds
shareholders promptly.

Alcoa also said that it will file with the SEC this week preliminary
consent solicitation materials that will be used to solicit written
consents from holders of Reynolds common shares. The consent
solicitation would seek, among other things, removal of the current
Board of Directors of Reynolds and election of an independent slate of
directors that would redeem Reynolds' "poison pill" rights plan and take
certain other steps to facilitate a sale of the company.

Alcoa further stated that it expects to file its pre-merger notification
under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act later this week
and would make every appropriate resource available to assist the
reviewing agency with its task of scrutinizing the transaction. As
stated previously, Alcoa believes that because of the global nature of
the metals marketplace, the consolidation of the metal industry now
occurring throughout the world, and the complementary nature of the
businesses of both companies, the proposed Alcoa-Reynolds combination is
not anti-competitive. Alcoa said that it would also be making the
requisite notification filing with the European Commission under
applicable EU merger regulations within the next few days.

Alcoa is the world's leading producer of primary aluminum, fabricated
aluminum and alumina. It is active in all major segments of the
industry: mining, refining, smelting, fabricating and recycling. Alcoa
has 215 operating locations in 31 countries. Revenues for 1998 were
$15.3 billion with record shipments of 3.95 million metric tons of
aluminum.